Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HUSKS, by MARCUS S. C. RICKARDS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HUSKS, by                    
First Line: They will not stay
Last Line: The fruit ye leave!
Subject(s): Beauty; Death; Earth; Faith; Past; Dead, The; World; Belief; Creed


THEY will not stay,
Yon withered shells that case the ripened fruit,
To mar Earth's beauty, now their work is past --
Protectors missioned by the parent root
No longer needed. Wild autumnal blast,
Blow all away!

They may not cling
Too long round fast-maturing Faith, the forms
That cradle her, now shrivelled to the death:
What guardian pod outstays the stripping storms?
Strong gale of cleansing Time, at every breath
Bid some take wing!

They should not haunt
Our waxing hearts, the acts of long ago:
Ills, pains, mistakes, each served its fostering end;
The scenes are played out, let the drama go!
Hence, kind Oblivion, bid thy whirlwind send
Each spectre gaunt!

They must not vex
Our spiring souls, the empty dream or hope
That gilt the Past; for each enshrined a germ
Fast fructifying mid Diviner scope.
Stern Fate, whose blow ends all at its due term,
Strew these vain wrecks!

They cannot cleave
For long to Life's fair tree, these frames of ours;
Spent as the spirit ripens, they decay:
Yet Death, and all the desolating Powers,
Sweep on! ye can but chase the husks to clay,
The Fruit ye leave!




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